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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How much is the Von Struikers’ land worth now?

2. What does the newspaper reveal will happen with the Samsodien’s claim?

3. Instead of her bedroom, where does Hortensia sleep?

4. Hortensia discovers Marion’s feelings towards Frikkie are what?

5. What does Marion repeatedly insist to Hortensia?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Chapter Sixteen show Marion develop?

2. What motivates Hortensia to contact Esme?

3. Why does Hortensia mock Marion’s attraction to Frikkie?

4. Why is Beulah’s pregnancy symbolically significant?

5. How does Marion feel about the torture schematics she finds at the library?

6. What is the arrangement when Marion moves into Hortensia’s house?

7. How does Hortensia’s confession about Peter’s illegitimate child bring the women closer together?

8. How does Chapter Sixteen show Hortensia develop?

9. Why does Hortensia feel “at home again” after she and Marion fight?

10. How do Hortensia and Marion’s perspectives on housekeepers differ?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why do you think the author chose to situate the novel in the neighborhood of Katterijn specifically? What details about the neighborhood contribute to the plot and themes of the novel?

Essay Topic 2

The reader never sees Peter or Max in the present tense. Why do you think the author chose to relegate the husbands to flashbacks only?

Essay Topic 3

How does the novel explain the development of Marion’s racism? What specific scenes from her childhood cause her to develop in the manner that she does?

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